Paul Anthony Osborne (born 30 September 1966) is an Australian former professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
footballer, administrator and politician. He played first-grade rugby league for the
St George Dragons
The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...
and
Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...
before serving as a member of the
Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (known in short as the ACT Legislative Assembly) is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic Sq ...
from 1995 until 2001. He was the chief executive officer of the
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League.
The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...
in the
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
from 2009 to 2011.
Background
Osborne grew up in
Hurlstone Park, New South Wales
Hurlstone Park is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Hurlstone Park is located nine kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is mostly in the local government area of the City of Canterbur ...
and was educated at
Christian Brothers' High School, Lewisham
, motto_translation = A crown to the one who strives
, established =
, type = Private comprehensive single-sex secondary day school
, denomination = Roman Catholic
, gender = Boys
, religious_affiliation = Christian Brothers
, principa ...
. He was formerly a police detective.
He is married to Maria Giertta, with whom he has two children. He also has nine children with his first wife, Sally Behn.
Rugby league football career
He was a member of the St George Dragons
The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...
between 1986–91 and the Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...
from 1992–94. His form during his tenure at St George was inconsistent; he was sometimes considered a future star for the club and a captaincy candidate, while at other times he was considered a liability. He did, however, star in the Dragons team that won the mid-week 1988 Panasonic Cup
The 1988 Panasonic Cup was the 15th edition of the NSWRL Midweek Cup, a NSWRL-organised national club Rugby League tournament between the leading clubs and representative teams from the NSWRL, the BRL, the CRL and Papua New Guinea.
A total of ...
. Osborne left the club at the end of Brian Smith's first year as head coach in 1991 to join Canberra, whose forwards roster had been weakened after the 1991 salary cap investigation led to the Raiders having to shed several players.
In switching clubs, Osborne was unlucky in that Canberra had made the grand final in four of his last five years at St George, and then the Dragons made the grand final in each of the two seasons following his move to the nation’s capital. Although he was a regular first-grader in his first two seasons with the Raiders, he injured his foot early in 1994 and thus didn't play much first grade that season. Not expecting to be selected for any post-season matches, and unsigned for the following year, he had organised an immediate release from finals-bound Canberra, and had been ready to fly to England to finish his career there.
In the Raiders’ 1994 preliminary final victory over North Sydney, John Lomax
John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 – January 26, 1948) was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist, and a folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk music. He was the father of Alan Lomax, John Lomax Jr. and Bess Lo ...
was sent off and subsequently suspended, meaning Lomax was unavailable for the grand final. Canberra coach Tim Sheens
Tim Sheens (born 30 October 1950) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player. Head Coach of the Australia national team between 2009 and 2015, he has also been the head coach of National Rugby League (NRL) clubs ...
felt that the reserve forwards he had been using in the finals, Brett Hetherington and David Westley
David Westley (born 7 June 1974) is a former professional rugby league footballer and assistant coach of the Papua New Guinea . A Papua New Guinea international front-rower, he played club football for the Canberra Raiders, with whom he won the ...
, would lose their impact if they started the match, so he literally called Osborne back from the airport for the opportunity to play one last game, in the grand final. In a career-best performance, Osborne laid on two offloads which led directly to tries in the early stages of the decider, playing an important role as Canberra claimed the 1994 Winfield Cup, and giving him a dream ending to his playing days.
Missing the flight to England had terminated his contractual agreements in the UK, so he was left without a club for 1995. Osborne consequently joined the local Canberra competition, and later got involved in local politics.
Political career
Osborne was elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly as an independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
representative for the electorate of Brindabella in 1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
on a socially conservative
Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...
platform. Prior to the 1998 general election, Osborne formed a group called the Osborne Independents Group and ran two candidates in each of the three seats. Osborne was re-elected and Dave Rugendyke
David Ross Rugendyke (born 3 April 1953) is an Australian politician, and was a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly for the multi-member electorate of Ginninderra.
Prior to entering politics, Rugendyke was a police of ...
, a former police officer, won a seat in the Assembly, representing Ginninderra
Ginninderra is the name of the former agricultural lands surrendered to urban development on the western and north-western fringes of Canberra, the capital of Australia. Ginninderra corresponds with the watershed of Ginninderra Creek, which is ...
. The Osborne Independent Group ran on a strong anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
ticket with stated objectives of blocking efforts to legalise euthanasia and decriminalise abortion. However, on taking up his seat in the Assembly, Rugendyke chose not to sit with Osborne, opting instead to sit as an independent in the Assembly. Less than a year later, at the request of the party, the ACT Electoral Commission
The Australian Capital Territory Electoral Commission, branded Elections ACT, is the agency of the Government of the Australian Capital Territory with responsibility for the conduct of elections and referendums for the unicameral ACT Legislative ...
deregistered the Osborne Independent Group on 15 February 1999. Osborne and Rugendyke sat in the Assembly as independents from that date.
In 1995, with the support of Osborne and Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism.
Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...
, another independent, Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
leader, Kate Carnell
Anne Katherine Carnell (née Knowlman; born 30 May 1955) is an Australian businesswoman and former Liberal Party politician, who served as the third Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) from 1995 to 2000.
Early life and p ...
, formed a minority government. Moore later went on to serve as an independent Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services.
Some governments have separate ministers for mental health.
Coun ...
in the Carnell-led government. In 1998, with support of Rugendyke, Osborne introduced an anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
bill, requiring that more information be provided to women considering the procedure and that there be a 72-hour cooling-off period between it being approved and carried out. His move was vehemently but unsuccessfully opposed by the Health Minister, Moore. The Bill, while consistent with Osborne's Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
beliefs, damaged his popularity among the suburban voters who had been his chief supporters. (Abortion was decriminalised and the legislation repealed in 2002).
Osborne voted against the 2000 budget in a successful attempt to stop the opening of a supervised injecting room. Although the injecting room had the support of a majority of the Assembly members, Osborne's support was needed to approve the funding in the budget. A new budget without funding for the injecting room was presented to the Assembly soon after and it was passed with Osborne's support.
In late 2000, Labor gave notice of an intention to move a no confidence vote
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
against Carnell over the controversial Bruce Stadium affair. The Assembly adjourned for seven days and, despite her attempts to secure support from Osborne, Carnell was forced to resign as Chief Minister before the vote was put to the Assembly. She was replaced by Gary Humphries
Gary John Joseph Humphries (born 6 July 1958) is a Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. He was a member of the Australian Senate representing the Australian Capital Territory for the Liberal Party of Australia from 2003 to 2 ...
. Osborne had a crucial role in determining Carnell's future, initially proposing an early election (which was outside the provisions of the ACT Constitution) to resolve the lack of confidence in Carnell.
In 2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
, Osborne and Rugendyke defended their respective seats, but this time, on separate tickets. Neither man was re-elected.
In July 2004, the Canberra Times
''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times.
History
''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...
claimed that Osborne was considering running for that year's ACT election with the Liberal Party, but he did not end up running. Osborne later returned to the Canberra Raiders to work for the club as a community-relations officer for a time after leaving politics.
Life after politics
In 2005, he was appointed as the CEO of the National Rugby League's Player Manager Accreditation Program. He was also a match-day commentator on the ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
's rugby league coverage.
In October 2008, he took six NRL players, Todd Carney
Todd Carney (born 2 June 1986), also known by the nickname of "Toddy", is an Australian former professional rugby league player who played in the 2000s and 2010s.
He has previously played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Sydney Roosters and ...
, Jarrad Hickey
Jarrad Hickey (born 7 May 1985) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Wakefield Trinity, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.
Background
Hickey was born in Sydne ...
, Nathan Hindmarsh
Nathan William Hindmarsh (born 7 September 1979) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who captained the Parramatta Eels in the NRL. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative second-ro ...
, Todd Payten
Todd Payten (born 18 January 1979) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL and former professional rugby league footballer.
As a player he played as a and forward for ...
, Justin Poore
Justin Poore (born 26 January 1985) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. A New South Wales State of Origin representative forward, he played in Australia's NRL for the St. George Illawarra Dragons and Parramatta Eels ...
and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (born 20 January 1989) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL) and New Zealand at international level.
Waerea-Hargreaves started h ...
, to Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
to work in the Village of Hope for Hope. They worked in the village building houses for widows and orphans. They also visited the famed mountain gorillas, with News Limited and Fox Sports providing extended coverage of the trip. All the players reported how much the trip had affected them and how far the country had come since the 1994 genocide. Osborne returned to Rwanda in 2009 with six Parramatta Eels players, Joe Galuvao
Joe Galuvao (born 8 July 1978) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s in the NRL. A Samoa and New Zealand international second row forward, he played for the Auckland Warriors, Parramatta Eel ...
, Matt Keating
Matt Keating (born 6 September 1986) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a . He played 130 games for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL between 2008 and 2013.
Background
He is the older brother of the rugby ...
, Tim Mannah
Tim Mannah (born 15 February 1988) is a former Lebanon national rugby league team, Lebanon international rugby league footballer who played as a for the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League, NRL.
He played for New South Wales City ru ...
, Joseph Paulo
Joseph Paulo (born 2 January 1988) is a former professional rugby league footballer who last played as a and for Toulouse Olympique in the Betfred Championship. He has played for both Samoa and the United States at international level.
He pr ...
, Justin Poore
Justin Poore (born 26 January 1985) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. A New South Wales State of Origin representative forward, he played in Australia's NRL for the St. George Illawarra Dragons and Parramatta Eels ...
and Joel Reddy
Joel Reddy (born 8 October 1985) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who most recently played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs. He was a part of the Rabbitohs squad that won the 2014 NRL Premiership.
Background
Reddy wa ...
. They worked in the same village and also made the trip to the border of Rwanda and the Congo at the Volcanoes National Park to visit the mountain gorillas.
Midway through the 2009 NRL season
The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiership ...
, Parramatta Eels chief executive Denis Fitzgerald
Denis William Fitzgerald, AM, (born 14 November 1949) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s for Parramatta, New South Wales and Australia, and a former chief executive officer of the Parramatta Eel ...
was replaced by Osborne. He then oversaw the troubled club's rise to the grand final, with the Eels winning seven regular-season matches in a row to make the finals and then winning three straight finals to appear in the decider against the Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...
. The Eels, under Osborne, broke the record for the biggest crowd at a match outside of a grand final when 75,000 people attended their preliminary final against the Canterbury Bulldogs
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...
. His friendship with rugby union convert Timana Tahu
Timana James Aporo Tahu (born 16 October 1980) is an Australian former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. He last played for Denver Stampede in the US PRO Rugby competition. A dual-code international representative three-qua ...
was later pivotal in Tahu returning to the Eels from the 15-man code for the 2010 NRL season.
On 15 November 2011, Osborne announced that he would no longer be Parramatta’s chief executive after Christmas because "a working relationship between imand the club's major naming rights sponsor Pirtek
Pirtek is a global brand specialising in Hydraulic & Industrial hose. It was founded in Australia in 1980 by Peter Duncan, expanding into the United Kingdom in 1988 and the United States in 1996. It operates its business using a franchise model.
...
is no longer tenable".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Paul
Australian Roman Catholics
Australian rugby league players
St. George Dragons players
Canberra Raiders players
Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
1966 births
Living people
Australian rugby league administrators
Rugby league props
Australian sportsperson-politicians
Australian police officers
Australian rugby league commentators
Independent members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
21st-century Australian politicians
Rugby league players from Sydney